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Nosferatu
Nosferatu is a German silent film made in the early 1920’s. It was directed by F.W. Murnau. It was produced by Albin Grau and screenplay by Henrik Galeen. The story behind Nosferatu was ripped off by Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. This film was released in Germany on March 4th 1922, and June 3rd 1929 in the United States.
In Germany this film was an instant hit. During this time in Germany, the country was deeply suffering due to the fact that they had just lost World War I in 1918. Post WWI Germany was in a state of shock. There was a dark presence in Germany. There were emotions of fear and distrust, which Murnau expresses in his film. Cinema during this time was very popular, probably because this was a form of entertainment that allowed the people of Germany to escape the horrors of their daily lives and “lose themselves in the film”.
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A German real estate agent, Hutter, portrayed by Gustav von Wangenheim, travels to Count Orlok's castle, portrayed by Max Schreck. His castle is located in Transylvania. Count Orlok is looking to purchase an isolated home in Wisbourg, so Hutter is sent there in order to sell it to him. On his way there, Hutter encounters many people who tell him not to go because Orlock is “creepy” and strange events happen there. Hutter makes it to the Count’s home and notices some strange things, such as Orlock only sleeping during the daytime, and he sleeps in a coffin in the crypt. During his time there he also feels a sense of uneasiness, like someone or something is always hanging over him. Based on a novel Hutter previously read, he starts to believe that Orlock is a vampire or Nosferatu. Hutter then becomes trapped in the castle and Orlock travels back to Hutters house in order to find his wife Ellen and kill her. In the end, Ellen’s life is spared and Orlock ends up burning and vanishing into a puff of smoke because he stepped out into the
The film illustrates the common social and sexual anxieties that the Germans were undergoing at that period of time. It also employs cinematic aesthetics alongside with new technology to create what would be considered as one of Germany’s first sound-supported films. Furthermore, it was the film that popularized its star Marlene Dietrich. The film is also known for combining elements of earlier expressionist works into its setting without becoming an expressionist film itself. It is important also to point out that the visual element has helped to balance the film easily against the backdrop the nightclub lifestyle that Lola leads the professor to fall into.
In the Early years of film one can easily say that Germany lead the way in experimentation, with such striking examples as Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. How when looking at two of these film, Nosferatu and Dr Mabuse the Gambler one can find a similar theme that run throughout. This theme is that of Weimar’s insecurity about outsiders and otherness different cultures. While both films have different stories at their very simplest both films see someone come into the idyllic lives of the protagonist not only wrecking their lives but the lives of ordinary people as well. It’s worth noting that borth Nosferatu and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler were filmed in the turbulent early 20’s of the Weimar period where Germany was still dealing with the aftermath of the war and outside powers such as France encroaching on German territory and at the same time political unrest had reached its high. With all these changes going on it easy to see why Germany might have felt that outsider were at work trying to remold modern Germany. This is why in these turbulent early years befor the Weimar Golden age we see such strong use of the other/outsider as a stand in for events taken place in Germany
Kracauer, Siegfried. From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film. Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford, 2004.
German Cinema since Unification. Edited by David Clarke. Continuum, in association with University of Birmingham Press. 2006
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
into strange trances. Jonathon escapes from the castle but is not free of Draculas power,
Comparing the 1931 version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, with Frances Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula 1993 version yields some similarities. Both films are of the same genre: Horror. Both films are set around the same time period. Also, both deal with a vampire coming to England and causing disruptions in people's lives. Beyond these few similarities are numerous contrasts.
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau is one of the most important filmmakers of the cinema during Weimar Republic period. He is often grouped with Fritz Lang and G.W. Pabst as the "big three" directors of Weimar Germany. He finished his career in Hollywood and was killed at a young age in a car crash. Three of his films appear on the greatest films lists of critics and film groups. Even though there seems to be little written about him.
Dracula, the most famous vampire of all time, which readers were first introduced to by Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897 with his novel Dracula, which tells the story of the mysterious person named Count Dracula (Stoker). The book is an outstanding masterpiece of work, which is why it has been a prototype for various movie releases over the decades. Whenever a film director decides to make a movie on behalf of a novel the hope is that the characters concur from the novel to the movie, which leads to the exploration of the resemblances and modifications between the characters in Dracula the novel by Bram Stoker and Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1992 movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu was a powerful commentary on disease and lust for its time. The character of Count Orlok himself was a metaphor for most evils such as disease, lust, and death. Towards the end of the film, people began to get sick from a disease that originated from Transylvania. What also causes widespread epidemics is that people unknowingly carry them into their home countries. Paranoia of the disease is also a crucial element of the film. The film’s innovative use of shadows and lighting also add more depth and suspense to the film and adds on to the commentary and social themes of the film. The iconic scene where Orlok went up the staircase and you saw nothing but his shadow stuck out to audiences all around for good reason.
His concern only grows when during further exploration of the castle, he realises that all the doors are locked and he is a
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
The 1922 film classic Nasferatu was among the first black and white Horror films to capture the imagination of the captivated patrons of a fledgling cinema industry. The plot is loosely based on the 1897 novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, causing copywrite controversy among Stoker’s heirs who sued for compensation leading to the destruction of many original copies of the film. Many attempts have been made to restore the original film in its entirety but none of the original score survived so many of the early performances were left to improvise the musical score, leading to a great deal of variation. Although Nasferatu may have not been a completely original piece of art, its use of cinematography techniques make it a masterpiece of early Film
Murnau also innovates the use of the camera with the chained camera. In one of the most famous scenes in the film, Murnau achieves the doorman’s drunken point of view by hanging a camera to the ceiling and letting it twist and turn to capture this unique perspective. It creates this dreamlike state that is a main principle in German Expressionism. The film that is the perfect representation if stimmung is Murnau’s Nosferatu. Although Bram Stoker’s wife ordered all the negatives of Nosferatu be destroyed, because of copyright issues; several copies have survived (Short History of Film). Murnau brought his own style to the vampire genre that leaves viewers in awe to this day. One example of Murnau’s artistic expression in this film can be seen with the carriage ride to Orlak’s castle. A film negative is inserted into the sequence. In the same scene, the carriage ride is sped up, there is no way a horse drawn carriage could move as fast as it did in the film. These two instances are examples of crossing from reality over into the supernatural by way of
The GDR creates an entire institution for monitor norms and German culture in society, the stasi. The organization also used deviant artist as an example of what happens to citizens who do not follow societal norms. This film demonstrates the GDR’s control of citizens through monitoring of arts, censorship, and culture shaping. The Lives of Others follows a stasi informant who watches